REACH FOR THE STARS... 21st March is World Downs Syndrome 'Lots of Socks' Day and we are raising the children's awareness by wearing odd socks on Wednesday. Improved attendance again with 96% and double WINITS this week for those attending on time every day. Well done Westerhope - the sponsored children did a wonderful job raising money for more books.

Mrs Cooper Nursery 1

Welcome toNursery1Class!

Hello, my name is Mrs Cooper and I have the pleasure of teaching Nursery 1 while Mrs Hay has a very important job to do and a well deserved rest!

I have been overwhelmed by how welcoming everyone has been here!

It is an absolute delight to come to school and a privilege to work with such lovely children, staff and parents.

Our Nursery page will be updated regularly to share lots of happy, learning time in the classroom. This is a great opportunity for you and your child to chat through the learning week and share the different experiences together.

Thank you for your continued support

Mrs Cooper and the Nursery Team

Blue Reef Trip! We had such a lovely time on our nursery trip to the Blue Reef Aquarium. We took part in a rockpool session where we had the chance to touch or hold different creatures such as crabs, starfish and anemones - we were very brave! We then had a look around the aquarium and saw some strange and wonderful creatures - including some very smelly otters! We had a lovely picnic lunch upstairs before going to watch the seal show. Unfortunately the weather meant we didnt get onto the beach but that didn't dampen (!) our spirits and we had a lovely afternoon back at nursery chatting about our trip. Lovely day all round!

Our new topic for the summer term is 'The Seaside and Pirates' - arrrrr! See below for the topic plan:

Sports Day! We were so lucky with the weather and the children enjoyed the fun races with their teddy bears! They then had a yummy picnic with their grown-ups before collecting a special medal for all their hard work! Well done Nursery 1!

Exercising and keeping healthy! Mr Outson came to our class to show us some different activities to help us stay fit and healthy. We had so much fun with our friends - running, balancing and throwing and catching the beanbags. Thank you Mr Outson!

Our new mini topic is Staying Healthy. Have a look at the topic plan below:

Fire Station Trip! We had such a lovely time on our local walk to the fire station. We were very lucky with the weather too! Have a look at our fantastic pictures below:

Puddle Jumping! With all the rain we've had, we thought it was an ideal opportunity for some puddle jumping! We got kitted out in our suits and wellies and had great fun! We jumped in the puddles and tried mixing some paint with large brushes. We remembered to wash our hands when we came in to get rid of the germs and nasties!

As part of our topic on Staying Healthy, we have been using real vegetables to create our own version of Mr Potato Head - it was lots of fun! Have a look at the photos below...

We had a super chat about the different vegetables

Wow!

Great fine motor skills

Super Mr Potato Head!

Strengthening our muscles!

Super!

Great concentration!

Our new topic is Growing and Changing. Please have a look at the topic map for an idea of the things we will be doing.

Goodbye to our butterflies! Our butterflies had hatched out of their cocoons so when their wings were strong enough, we took them outside to release them. The children all made a wish and whispered it into their hands. They held onto their wish tightly, then when the butterflies flew away, they let their wish fly away too. Magical!

We have tadpoles!

Mrs Anderson kindly brought in tadpoles for us

We have been looking at books about tadpoles

We have enjoyed watching them!

Look at our fantastic writing this week!

We have been practising the sounds we know

We have also been practising our names

Our caterpillars are changing! They have eaten the food, grown bigger and are now hanging from the lid, ready to spin their cocoons! Exciting!

I can see you caterpillars!

They are big!

Lovely observational drawing

Super mark making about the caterpillars

Great picture!

Giant numbers!

We have been observing the changes to our beans this week. Some have grown a lot so we have transferred them into small pots. We are currently writing a class bean diary which is updated regularly. The children can access this whenever they wish to discuss with their friends.

We had a letter from the Giant in nursery this week! He asked us to help him. He wanted to know if there was anything in our classroom that was longer or shorter than his footprints - he left these for us to use (they weren't too smelly!). He also asked if there was anything the same size as his footprints. So we had to do lots of measuring and there was some great language and knowledge during these activities! Well done everyone!

The letter from the Giant!

We have some new visitors! We have had a special delivery of some caterpillars. We are going to observe them growing, making cocoons and then turning into butterflies - how exciting!

We have a new caterpillar and butterfly area

Can you spot the caterpillars?

I spy a caterpillar!

Welcome back to everyone after our lovely Easter break!

I hope you have all had a super time with your friends and family

Easter Activities! We have had a lovely week of Easter activities including decorating eggs and making Easter Nests!

We had a visit from the Easter Bunny! He asked us to help him solve a problem. He wanted to create different egg decorations, only using 3 colours. We used large sheets of paper to try to work out the different combinations. Lots of problem solving happening!

Shadow drawing - we took advantage of the lovely sun shining through the small window to create some shadow drawings of different animals!

Squiggle While You Wiggle - we have moved on to a different shape in our Squiggle sessions. The new focus of the session has been 'the hump' - a rainbow like shape. The children have been making the shapes using their scarves, then transferring those movements onto paper. Well done!

Obstacle Course. In our outdoor area, we worked together to build an obstacle course. We then took it in turns to complete all the different activities. We even added an egg and spoon race in too! Good work everyone!

Building a balance bar

Travelling through the tunnel

Over the tyres

Across the balance bar

Good balancing skills!

Using the hoop

Travelling back across the balance bar

Egg and spoon races!

Great balancing!

Beebots! We explored the Beebots and how to make them move. We talked about the uses of the different buttons and some of us could make the Beebots move under a bridge! Well done.

Exploring the Beebot

Working with a friend to make the Beebots move

Pressing buttons to make it move

We had fun looking for 'sound treasure' in the sand! We had to hunt around in the sand to look for pictures with our initial 'sound of the week'. Well done everyone!

Making roads. The children are really showing interests in our construction area and worked with Mrs Poolan to create a road using large sheets of paper. They added bridges and different features. It was a big hit and was used all morning!

Starting the road...

Adding different features...

Finally adding a very impressive bridge!

Comic Relief Joke Off Video!

After talking about rainbows, we explored multi-coloured water beads on our light table. The children liked moving the beads around and talked about how they felt.

World Book Day! We had such a lovely day full of fun and activities! Thank you to all the parents/carers who joined us to share stories at the end of the day. A lovely day all round!

Mrs Hay came to visit!

It was lovely to meet baby Elliott!

Body Shapes! After talking about the body when using the Doctor's Surgery role play, we decided to draw around our body shapes. We then thought about the different parts of the body, wrote labels and decided where to attach them! Super work everyone!

Rainbow Bread - We practised our fine motor control using pipettes to drop coloured milk onto bread. We talked about what happened to the colours and the different patterns they made. Well done!

Doctors Surgery - After exploring the investigation table with the real heart pictures and the doctors kit, it became evident the children wanted to extend this interest. We then changed the role play area into a doctors surgery and it has been very popular!

Time to check your ears!

Miss Blair needs medicine!

Practising our writing as a receptionist.

Using a stethoscope. Well done!

Good writing and typing skills!

Looking after the poorly patient.

Super measuring skills! The boys had made a long set of blocks in the construction area...

"If I lie here it's longer than me!"

"This is how long he is. He is up to here!"

** We will be starting a new mini topic...please have a look at the topic grid...**

Problem solving in the outdoor area! The children were enjoying their time on the bikes when one child said "I've run out of petrol!". This led to a discussion about what we could use for petrol. We found a watering can which they used for "filling up the bikes". Another child then found a bit of hose pipe and said "Look we can use this for the wheels!". Super skills!

We have been practising our gross motor movements by using the giant chalks in the outdoor area. We made lines and circles, and some of us even practised some letters and numbers! Well done!

This week we have started a new special activity called Squiggle While You Wiggle. It promotes gross motor movements and develops the muscles which are needed for writing. We start by moving to music, using large arm movements in circular shapes (our shape of the week!). We also had a little dance too! Then we quickly moved these movements onto paper, using a pencil/crayon/chalk in each hand. Some of us made large circles, some of us made smaller circles. Some blank paper and writing tools were then left out and the children accessed them independently, copying the shapes on the original sheets. For our first session I was so impressed with how well the children listened and joined in. Well done!

The boys have explored den making this week. They asked if they could use the torches "because it is dark in there". Well done!

We were shape detectives and found lots of triangles in the outdoor area!

wintery penguins planner

A fond farewell ...

The children had such a fun Christmas party! Lots of dancing, eating, party games, plus a special visit from Santa!

What a fantastic end to an amazing first term at Westerhope Nursery.

Happy Christmas everyone!

The count down to Christmas!

In Nursery we have been full of Christmas busy ... from Christmas card writing, building sparkly play dough snowmen, preparing Christmas dinner in the home corner then enjoying a nice, relaxing book by the fireplace to sledge building! Wow! We certainly have a fun packed learning time in Nursery, that's for sure!

Our Christmas sing-a-long performance was a huge hit! The children were true super stars and made all of their grown ups very proud. One of those special, christmassy, magical times to be treasured. Thank you for coming and being a fantastic audience.

We had a special visit in Nursery today from our very own Harry Potter expert! (please let us know if your child has a particular interest/expertise and we will celebrate this in Nursery).

A very proud Mr Outterside congratulating our Nursery learners on their writing achievements! We are so proud of you.

Our Teddy Bear Fundraising Day!

Our teddy bear fundraising day was an amazing success! The children had a fantastic morning of teddy bear cake decorating, making teddy bear sandwiches and playing and learning in our teddy bear themed nursery. At 2pm we opened our Nursery doors to welcome all of the children's wonderful grown ups. I was simply overwhelmed with just how many of our grown ups came to join in with the teddy bear fun! The afternoon was jam packed with a teddy bear hunt, followed by a tasty picnic and lots of cake eating! It was such a lovely, happy atmosphere in Nursery and will definitely be a special day to remember.

The fundraising day was in aid of my beautiful four year old niece, Nicole, who has recently been diagnosed with Batten Disease, which is an extremely rare, fatal neurodegenerative condition for which there is currently no cure, and limits Nicole's precious life. My sister and her husband have found incredible strength from somewhere and are the inspirational driving force in making everyday full of happiness for Nicole and to continue making special family memories. It has been so touching to know that my lovely nursery children, parents/grandparents have been a part of this fundraising journey - a day to be treasured. Your generosity, kindness and caring thoughts have been truly touching so thank you.

Our total funds raised on our teddy bear day came to an unbelievable £225! Wow! Such an overwhelming amount. Words can't express our thanks and appreciation.

Team Nicole are ready! Let the Teddy Bear Fundraising Day begin ...

Our local educational trip to Westerhope village post office school trip

The children had a fantastic trip to our local post office!

On arrival at the post office, the children were all prepared with their stamp money and Santa Claus letter and paid for their stamp at the counter. They then excitedly posted their wish list in to the post box all ready for the onward journey to Reindeer Land!

The children represented Westerhope Primary school exceptionally well on our trip making me one very proud teacher!

A big thank you for all of our adult helpers on the trip. The support was fantastic and you made the trip happen so thank you.

It's Santa Claus letter writing time!

Count down to our Teddy Bear Picnic day on the 6th December!

The children have so far bravely entered our reading 'Bear Cave' (a torch in hand!) to read a story to a grizzly bear, learned some new teddy bear songs and number rhymes, took part in retelling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears using our 'talk the text' map, continued their understanding of the story by role playing the story in our bears' home-corner and took part in the making and tasting of tasty porridge, sampling different flavours!

Nursery Christmas News

Thank you so much to all of my lovely parents for a successful week of parents' consultations. It was a great opportunity to share all of the successes of your wonderful children and how they have settled in to their Westerhope Nursery life!

Thank you again for your continued support.

We are beaming with pride for our friend in Nursery who recently opened the Hydrotherapy Pool at the Alan Shearer Centre! We are so proud of you!

Our spooktacular Halloween learning in Nursery ...

Pumpkin carving learning with Mrs Anderson! The learners (and Mrs Anderson!) had so much fun using carving tools, exploring the texture of the pumpkin and sharing their thoughts of the experience with each other (I wonder what our learner in the first picture thought?).

Our Halloween themed 'Read for Writing' ... The children enjoyed listening to a Meg and Mog story at story time; they soon discovered that Meg made a gruesome potion (with beetles and frogs, err!). Excitingly, this inspired lots of potion making with Miss Blair at the Potion Lab and writing their very own witches potion with Mrs Hay at the Cauldron Counter!

The start of our Autumn learning in Nursery...

Ever written with a carrot? Our learners had so much fun today mark-making using a carrot and orange paint!

In Westerhope we celebrate being a reading school! One popular reading activity we explore in Nursery to engage our early readers is 'Talk the Text'. Talk the Text enables children to imitate the key language used in story books in other parts of their learning, particularly in their extending vocabulary use and early writing ideas. Through fun activities, children internalise the pattern of language, supported visually by a story text map and physical movements. This also helps the learners recall the story and begin to recognise a structure.

Talk for Writing in action!

Our autumn walk today brought great discoveries of all things autumn! The children explored the colours of leaves and plants, felt the textures of our autumn finds and listened carefully to sounds in the environment as we walked - we had a wonderful time learning in the outdoors!

The children explored our autumn discovery table ...

The children learned a new autumn themed number rhyme ...

Look at our 'math-magicians' hard at work! This week I have been working with all of the children to get an understanding of the children's knowledge of numbers and counting - I have been super impressed!

We have explored shapes this week; the children have created some wonderful constructions and talked with such enthusiasm about what they have arranged using the shapes. Look how proud our little learner below is of his "Tower Rocket."